Friday, October 26
Muncie, IN
7 p.m.
Ball State University
18-6 (9-2MAC)
3
vs
0
Northern Illinois University
8-18 (6-5MAC)
1
2
3
F
Northern Illinois
20
13
18
0
Ball State
25
25
25
3
Volleyball Powers Its Way Past NIU in Straight Sets
October 26, 2018 | Women's Volleyball
MUNCIE, Ind. - - Led by 14 kills each from senior outside attacker Ellie Dunn and junior middle Sydnee VanBeek, the Ball State offense could not be stopped Friday night in a dominating 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-18) sweep of Mid-American Conference West Division rival Northern Illinois in Worthen Arena.
The Cardinals (18-6, 9-2 MAC) finished the match with a .374 (48-8-107) attack percentage, tying as its third-best mark of the season, to avenge a Sept. 22 loss to the Huskies (8-18, 8-5 MAC) in DeKalb, Illinois.
The biggest of Ball State's 48 total kills came at the 23-12 mark of the second set, when Dunn blasted her 1,000th career kill off the NIU block. Just the 11th player in program history to reach 1,000 kill plateau, and first since the 2009 season, Dunn turned in just as an impressive performance on defense by leading the Cardinals with 15 digs for her 11th double-double of the season.
With her 14 kills in the win, Dunn raised her career total to 1,007. She also hit .393 (14-3-28) and added a solo block.
The other offensive star for the Cardinals on the night was VanBeek, who led all players with a .480 (14-2-25) attack percentage and five total blocks to go along with her 14 kills.
Junior setter Amber Seaman guided Ball State to its third-best hitting mark of the season by handing out 37 assists. She also recorded a pair of service aces to raise her career total to 99 which breaks into the top 20 in program history.
Also aiding in the strong offensive performance were redshirt senior middle Meg Starling with seven kills and a .429 (7-1-14) attack percentage, redshirt senior outside attacker Jessica Lindsey with seven kills and a .350 (7-0-20) rate of success and sophomore opposite Reece Kral with six kills and a .286 (6-2-14) hitting mark.
Starling also tallied three solo stuffs among her four total blocks, while Kral, Seaman and Lindsey chipped in two block assists apiece.
Aside from the offensive highlights, freshman defensive specialist Cathryn Starck provided one from the service line, helping Ball State go on a 12-0 run to turn a 9-7 advantage into a 21-7 lead. She service up both of her aces in the run and also finished the night with five digs.
Rounding out the Cardinals' top contributors was junior libero Kate Avila who recorded 14 digs and a perfect reception percentage in 16 attempts.
Meg Wolowicz led the Northern Illinois attack with 12 kills, while Miranda Karlen added a match-best 16 digs. Overall, the Ball State defense limited the Huskies attack to a .119 (33-20-109) rate of success, while also out-digging (50 to 43) and out-blocking (10.0 to 3.0) NIU.
Head Coach Kelli Miller:
"When you are playing in the MAC, you are playing against tough defensive teams. Teams that are game planning against you. It's a highly competitive league and for Ellie to come out and have 1,000 kills at this point in her career just shows how tough she is offensively."
"Ellie has taken her game to a whole new level this year. She understood going into her senior year that she wanted to make the most of everything she could do. Then, to come out and get her 1,000 career kill in front of the home crowd is a special moment that she is going to cherish, especially with the win on top of it."
"Our defense was significantly better this time around. I felt like we had a good game plan and our blockers and backcourt players really executed that. We found our offensive rhythm tonight. At their place, we weren't bad, but we weren't consistently in rhythm. So those two things stuck out the most to me about tonight's win."
By The Numbers:
- Senior outside attacker Ellie Dunn is the first Ball State player to record her 1,000th career kill since Julie Breivogel (2006-09) smashed her 1,000th career kill versus Dayton on Aug. 29, 2009. Breivogel currently ranks eighth on BSU's career charts with 1,234 kills.
- With 37 assists in Friday's sweep of Northern Illinois, junior setter Amber Seaman raised her career total to 2,993, leaving her seven assists shy of becoming just the sixth player in program history to hand out 3,000 career assists.
- Amber Seaman also served up two more aces Friday night to raise her career total to 99 which places her into a tie for 19th in program history. She needs one more ace to become just the 19th player to record 100 career aces for the Cardinals.
- With her 14 digs versus NIU, junior libero Kate Avila extend her streak of matches with double-digit digs to 53 and raised her career total to 82. She also raised her career digs total to 1,532 which ranks sixth in program history. She needs just 58 more digs to pass Amanda McCormick's (2005-06) career total of 1,579 for fifth on BSU's career charts.
Up Next:
The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to action Saturday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Western Michigan for Alumni Night in Worthen Arena.
Follow The Cardinals:
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State women's volleyball, follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateWVB and @VBCoachMiller on Twitter.
- BallStateSports.com -
The Cardinals (18-6, 9-2 MAC) finished the match with a .374 (48-8-107) attack percentage, tying as its third-best mark of the season, to avenge a Sept. 22 loss to the Huskies (8-18, 8-5 MAC) in DeKalb, Illinois.
The biggest of Ball State's 48 total kills came at the 23-12 mark of the second set, when Dunn blasted her 1,000th career kill off the NIU block. Just the 11th player in program history to reach 1,000 kill plateau, and first since the 2009 season, Dunn turned in just as an impressive performance on defense by leading the Cardinals with 15 digs for her 11th double-double of the season.
With her 14 kills in the win, Dunn raised her career total to 1,007. She also hit .393 (14-3-28) and added a solo block.
The other offensive star for the Cardinals on the night was VanBeek, who led all players with a .480 (14-2-25) attack percentage and five total blocks to go along with her 14 kills.
Junior setter Amber Seaman guided Ball State to its third-best hitting mark of the season by handing out 37 assists. She also recorded a pair of service aces to raise her career total to 99 which breaks into the top 20 in program history.
Also aiding in the strong offensive performance were redshirt senior middle Meg Starling with seven kills and a .429 (7-1-14) attack percentage, redshirt senior outside attacker Jessica Lindsey with seven kills and a .350 (7-0-20) rate of success and sophomore opposite Reece Kral with six kills and a .286 (6-2-14) hitting mark.
Starling also tallied three solo stuffs among her four total blocks, while Kral, Seaman and Lindsey chipped in two block assists apiece.
Aside from the offensive highlights, freshman defensive specialist Cathryn Starck provided one from the service line, helping Ball State go on a 12-0 run to turn a 9-7 advantage into a 21-7 lead. She service up both of her aces in the run and also finished the night with five digs.
Rounding out the Cardinals' top contributors was junior libero Kate Avila who recorded 14 digs and a perfect reception percentage in 16 attempts.
Meg Wolowicz led the Northern Illinois attack with 12 kills, while Miranda Karlen added a match-best 16 digs. Overall, the Ball State defense limited the Huskies attack to a .119 (33-20-109) rate of success, while also out-digging (50 to 43) and out-blocking (10.0 to 3.0) NIU.
Head Coach Kelli Miller:
"When you are playing in the MAC, you are playing against tough defensive teams. Teams that are game planning against you. It's a highly competitive league and for Ellie to come out and have 1,000 kills at this point in her career just shows how tough she is offensively."
"Ellie has taken her game to a whole new level this year. She understood going into her senior year that she wanted to make the most of everything she could do. Then, to come out and get her 1,000 career kill in front of the home crowd is a special moment that she is going to cherish, especially with the win on top of it."
"Our defense was significantly better this time around. I felt like we had a good game plan and our blockers and backcourt players really executed that. We found our offensive rhythm tonight. At their place, we weren't bad, but we weren't consistently in rhythm. So those two things stuck out the most to me about tonight's win."
By The Numbers:
- Senior outside attacker Ellie Dunn is the first Ball State player to record her 1,000th career kill since Julie Breivogel (2006-09) smashed her 1,000th career kill versus Dayton on Aug. 29, 2009. Breivogel currently ranks eighth on BSU's career charts with 1,234 kills.
- With 37 assists in Friday's sweep of Northern Illinois, junior setter Amber Seaman raised her career total to 2,993, leaving her seven assists shy of becoming just the sixth player in program history to hand out 3,000 career assists.
- Amber Seaman also served up two more aces Friday night to raise her career total to 99 which places her into a tie for 19th in program history. She needs one more ace to become just the 19th player to record 100 career aces for the Cardinals.
- With her 14 digs versus NIU, junior libero Kate Avila extend her streak of matches with double-digit digs to 53 and raised her career total to 82. She also raised her career digs total to 1,532 which ranks sixth in program history. She needs just 58 more digs to pass Amanda McCormick's (2005-06) career total of 1,579 for fifth on BSU's career charts.
Up Next:
The Ball State women's volleyball team returns to action Saturday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Western Michigan for Alumni Night in Worthen Arena.
Follow The Cardinals:
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State women's volleyball, follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateWVB and @VBCoachMiller on Twitter.
- BallStateSports.com -
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Team Stats
NIU
BSU
Kills
33
48
Errors
20
8
Attempts
109
107
Hitting %
.119
.374
Points
41.0
62.0
Assists
32
42
Aces
5
4
Blocks
3.0
10.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
14
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
14
Aces
0
Blocks
5
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
DS
/ Women's VolleyballOH
/ Women's Volleyball
RS / M
/ Women's VolleyballOPP
/ Women's Volleyball
S
/ Women's Volleyball
DS
/ Women's VolleyballMH
/ Women's VolleyballMH
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